Heritage, Hate and Haute Dogs

In San Francisco and in Columbia, S.C., there are heated debates over two unrelated (as far as I know) symbols.

In South Carolina, it's the Confederate flag that flies over the state Capitol. Protesters want the flag brought down. They say it's a symbol of hatred.

In S.F., the symbol in question is the Doggie Diner head on Sloat Blvd. The Board of Supes can't decide whether to chop down the head or sanctify it.

It's important what symbols fly over a city. They say a lot about the character of the city upon which they cast their shadows.

As for Doggie, this much is certain: It has to stay, even if the burger joint, which is not a Doggie Diner, gets bulldozed.

It really doesn't matter whether or not the head is granted landmark status. What matters is that the Doggie symbolizes a quirky San Francisco spirit, and it makes people feel good. It's fun to look at. Please leave it up.

The lawyer for the property owner said the head is "an extraordinarily mediocre example of modern art." Hey, just what the city needs: An attorney who's an art critic.

Best solution: Let the property owner raze the burger hut if he agrees to allow the erection of a suitable monument at the base of the Doggie pole. NOW, ABOUT that flag.

Supporters of the rebel flag say it's not a symbol of hate, but of heritage. Confederate soldiers fought for freedom, their struggle was noble and should be remembered. Sure, they killed some folks, but hey.

Two states north, in Virginia, there's a much quieter debate over how to preserve the memory of Nat Turner, the slave who led an 1831 slave revolt in which 57 people were slaughtered.

The New Yorker magazine had a recent (12/13/99) story about the controversy over Turner's place in history. Author Tony Horwitz found that while many blacks see Turner as a freedom fighter and true folk hero, the two historical museums in Southampton County, where the incredible event took place, barely have a trace of Nat Turner.

One museum has Turner's sword, but it's kept locked up, out of view. Because, I guess, it's a symbol of hate, not heritage.

Turner was executed and his corpse chopped up and distributed among white families. His skull wound up at Wooster College in Ohio but has since vanished.

The moral: Heritage is in the eye of the beheader. MORE SYMBOLIC STUFF: The Giants' new Pac Bell Park's address will honor the franchise's greatest player and his uniform number -- "24 Willie Mays Plaza." Maybe.

A problem: Not only is the ballpark on the odd-numbered side of the street, it's on King Street. So technically the address is 1 King St.

So the city is quietly cooking up a special permit to cut through the technicalities and allow the Giants to honor the Say Hey Kid. SPEAKING OF KIDS and cultural heritage: The Giants should launch a campaign to teach every boy and girl ballplayer in the city the basket catch.

It was Willie's trademark, that and losing his cap while chasing flies. Mays caught fly balls with his glove at belt-buckle level, a shocking departure from the proper technique of holding the glove near the eyes.

The basket catch was wrong, risky and a thing of simple beauty.

Bring it back. FRUSTRATED BY MUNI? So was the SFPD, so they went out and assembled their own bus fleet.

The P.D. needed buses for its Y2K readiness package, to transport cops to hot spots. The police brass went to Muni, but ran into some kind of Muni union problems.

And one source tells me that the cops cooled on Muni drivers after New Year's Eve a year ago, when a busload of officers ready to roll sat cooling heels while the Muni driver took his dinner break.

So the P.D. bought 10 used SamTrans buses and sent 26 officers to bus-driver training and now has its own fleet. Some of the buses were used at Tuesday's funeral for two officers killed in a helicopter crash.

Somehow, it's comforting to know that in an emergency, the cops won't be coming by Muni. They'll be riding the Fuzzbus.